Polaroid Preservation
Two weeks ago I wrote about how Polaroid stopped manufacturing film. In the Comments section to that article, Nancy Owen asked, "Over the years, I've taken a lot of Polaroid pictures. Many of them are not holding up. The edges of the paper on the back are coming unglued. What...
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Multi-generational Portraits
There's something special about seeing a grandmother and grandchild posed together in a photograph. This little tyke is the spitting image of her grandma. Emma Dempster-Greenbaum owns this picture. It's labeled "Grandmother & Sarah Ann." The photographer was J.C. Cone and Sons of Farmington. Emma dated...
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Polaroid News
Another photographic giant is shutting down production on one of its products. In mid-February, Polaroid announced that after this year, it will no longer manufacture film for its cameras. You can listen to the National Public Radio interview live on the web.Edwin H. Land established the company back in...
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Photo Detective: Misled by Labeling Premium
You can't always believe what you read on family photos, but details in the image may reveal the truth.
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Italian Military Picture Part 2
Two weeks ago, I promised a second installment of the blog on the Italian soldier photo. Thank you for commenting on the first column. While I puzzled over the v. Fabio Massimo.83, two of you reminded me that v. stands for via, Italian for the road on which the...
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Fun and Simple Photo Editing
I'm a fan of a relatively new website called Picnik.com. It may make you forget expensive photo editing programs even exist. Here's what to love. It's online, Web-based software. All you do is access your pictures on your computer or use the ones you've uploaded to sites such as...
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Overseas Military Uniforms
Justin Piccirilli is an extremely patient genealogist. He first contacted me back in 2005 about these images, which he thinks depict his great uncle Costabile Piccirillo in a military uniform. This is part one of a two-part photo identification problem that covers both military history and foreign family photos.As...
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Share Photos on Flickr
This weekend I finally had time to play with the web photo phenomena known as Flickr. I'm sure some of you have been members for a while and now I know why. It's fun! For those unfamiliar with this very popular way to post, share and create with photos I'll...
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Oklahoma Family Problems
Debbie Deaton sent me a photo hoping I could confirm the identity of this family. She thinks this portrait depicts the Deaton family: Franklin Deaton, his wife, Mahalia Mae Archer Deaton, and their children. Standing next to Mahalia is her son and Franklin’s step-son, Harley. The other boy is...
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Backgrounds in Old Photos
In mid-December, I asked readers to submit photos with interesting backgrounds. Thank you for images. I'm conducting an informal study of the different types of backgrounds in photos—it's a vastly understudied area of photo history. Here's an overview:In the 1840s and 1850s daguerreotypists really didn't use backgrounds. Their focus was...
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